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Advice Needed - Audi A3 Problem

Aodh

Hi Folks,

My cars seriously playing up at the moment and I'm hoping someone here might be able to give me a bit of advice.

It's a 1998 Audi A3 1.6, 82,000 miles. At 73,000 miles it had a good service with the the Lambda probe, plugs, etc. replaced. It's had oil and filters replaced again since.

It's been doing loads of city miles and wasn't running that smoothly but seemed to be doing better after a long run (600miles) to the west and back two weeks ago.

Now it's having serious issues. Once it heats up to about "90" on the temperature gauge it starts idling badly. When stopped in neutral it'll sometimes just die and have trouble restarting. There is no power from the engine when trying to pull away (foot flat to the floor, and engine not revving at all). It also sounds like it's mis-firing or something. It only has these problems when the engine is warm, from cold up to about "80" on temp. gauge it runs fine.

Anyway, I hope that's not too much detail. I would hugely appreciate any help / advice / pointers to help sort this out. I'm just hoping it's not going to be too expensive.

Thanks in advance for any help.

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daithihalton

id change the temperature sensor first, then see how it behaves also sounds like a coil pack gone if its missing
best thing is to run a diagnostics check on it it will point you in the right direction

Aodh

Thanks Daithihalton, much appreciated.

stevenmu

The lack of power definitely sounds like a coil pack, but with it cutting out on idle and the city driving it could be a clogged throttle body, or possibly both. It's simple enough to pick up some throttle body cleaner spray, remove the air filter and you'll see the air intake with a valve, with the engine running spray in cleaner into the intake in short bursts (too long a burst and the engine will cut out).

Tropheus

stevenmu wrote: »

The lack of power definitely sounds like a coil pack, but with it cutting out on idle and the city driving it could be a clogged throttle body, or possibly both. It's simple enough to pick up some throttle body cleaner spray, remove the air filter and you'll see the air intake with a valve, with the engine running spray in cleaner into the intake in short bursts (too long a burst and the engine will cut out).

I'd agree, the 1.6 FSI engines are notorious for coilpack issues. My wife has a 2003 A2 1.6 FSI since March this year and we've replaced two coilpacks already.

Do you know anyone with the VAGCOM diagnostic software? That will help you identify the offending cylinder/coilpack.

Neilw

If it's running fine when cold it's I don't think it would be a coil pack as a failed one would cause poor running all the time.

I'd go with replacing the coolant temp sensor first, they are fairly cheap and do give problems.

Have you had a diagnostic scan done either in a dealers or with vag-com/vcds?

Neilw

ksimpson wrote: »

I'd agree, the 1.6 FSI engines are notorious for coilpack issues. My wife has a 2003 A2 1.6 FSI since March this year and we've replaced two coilpacks already.

A 1998 car won't have the fsi engine.

Just a tip for you, if one coil pack dies, replace all of them as the others will start to fail shortly after. Had one go in my 1.8t and replaced all 4 20k miles ago and not had another fail, I do carry a spare in the boot tho :-)

Darragh29

daithihalton wrote: »

id change the temperature sensor first, then see how it behaves also sounds like a coil pack gone if its missing
best thing is to run a diagnostics check on it it will point you in the right direction

OP, change nothing until you plug it into a diagnostic system and see if there are any fault codes. The worst thing you can do when you have a problem like this is to start changing parts on a gut feeling.

daithihalton

I have full vag-com diagnostics if you need it checked out no problem

Aodh

Thanks again Lads for all the help.

What are coil packs like to replace? I'm fairly good mechanically but a novice when it comes to cars.

Darragh29

Aodh wrote: »

Thanks again Lads for all the help.

What are coil packs like to replace? I'm fairly good mechanically but a novice when it comes to cars.

Usually they are easy enough but sometimes they can be a bit of a c*nt to get at, I did one recently on a VW Passat and it was a bit tricky, hidden down below the inlet manifold, took about an hour or two to get it out and new one back in.

Aodh

daithihalton wrote: »

I have full vag-com diagnostics if you need it checked out no problem

Thanks for the offer Daithihalton, you wouldn't happen to be on the south side of Dublin would you?

Aodh

Darragh29 wrote: »

Usually they are easy enough but sometimes they can be a bit of a c*nt to get at, I did one recently on a VW Passat and it was a bit tricky, hidden down below the inlet manifold, took about an hour or two to get it out and new one back in.

Yeah, for what I here VAG don't like making things easy to replace.

I'll have to try to get it sorted in the next day or two, I'd like to be able to use it over christmas.

Thanks, A.

com1

Had exactly the same symptoms on a 94 Audi 80 a few years back... plugged it into the diagnostics and it turned out to be a faulty temp sensor - €80 for the part - swapped it out in about 10 minutes - 3 bolts and 2 cables and sorted the problem. - Get the diagnostic done can save a fortune...

Darragh29

Usually they are very easy to change, if they are individual ignition coils, which means you'll have 4 of them, with each one plugging directing on top of the spark plug. I think this is the set up on your car which means it will be very easy to change. I'm not sure which type of coil your car has but I think it's 4 ignition coils, one for each cylinder, but I could be wrong. I had a look on Google and it looks that way, see attached pic...

stuckinarut

i had similar problems only last week with mine..it wouldnt idle properly and sometimes when i clutched it just died..
Got it checked by mechanic and he said he cleaned the throttle body which seems to have fixed the problem..
Another friend of mine also had this problem and he had his air mass meter changed which fixed his..

Darragh29

stuckinarut wrote: »

i had similar problems only last week with mine..it wouldnt idle properly and sometimes when i clutched it just died..
Got it checked by mechanic and he said he cleaned the throttle body which seems to have fixed the problem..
Another friend of mine also had this problem and he had his air mass meter changed which fixed his..

I'd clean out the throttle body first and check the ECU for a fault code coming from the Air Flow Sensor. I'd also check for a misfire fault code which would point to a coil problem... Either way, it will have to be hooked up to a diagnostics system to see what the problem is...

Aodh

Thanks for all the advice lads.

The best christmas wishes to you all!

I'll let you know what the problem is when it's sorted.